Mihnea Cel Rau, Dracula's Son
by Jekyllhydeclub
Summary: This is a tale of Mihnea Tepes, otherwise known as Mihnea Cel Rau, the first born son of Vlad Tepes. Here we mix history with vampire lore to look into Mihnea's mortal life and his life afterward as a vampire.
1. Chapter 1

Dracula's son, By Ciaran and Coal Corby

Chapter 1: a chip off the old fang

Mihnea woke in his grave with his father bending over him. Vlad was forcing blood from his own bleeding wrist into Mihnea's mouth. Oddly, of all things about this situation to fixate his mind upon, Mihnea found himself wondering how it was that he could see Vlad so clearly in the thick pitch darkness. For some reason, at least for several seconds, this fact was more remarkable than seeing his father again, apparently alive and well though Mihnea knew better. His father's death had been the worse blow he'd ever suffered!

The fact Vlad was poring blood down his throat did not seem such a huge worry either. Likewise no real concern that he, Mihnea, currently lay in his own grave.

He was the first born son of Vlad Tepes, a fact of which he'd always been proud. It was easy when he admired and respected his father not to mention being the man's favorite child. Vlad had never treated his other children poorly, but he was always closer to Mihnea. They shared something the others just never could...That being Mihnea's mother. Ilona would always hold Vlad's heart and having her blood running through his veins not to mention being so like himself, Vlad always loved Mihnea best.

For his part, Mihnea repaid this by striving to be like his father in every way and from a young age learning all he could about warfare and keeping the bloody Turks out of their homeland! This act, in particular, had been the death of Mihnea and his father alike. Indeed he had lived like Vlad and died like him as well. That was no comfort, though, as he died feeling he'd failed his father as well as Wolacia itself. Upon Vlad's own death, Mihnea knew he had to be AT LEAST as strong as his father if not more. Because he knew for a fact he had something to prove he'd opted for more. Bigger...brighter...bloodier! That was the plan, and the attempt and a good attempt to be sure. Of that Mihnea was certain.

Something had gone wrong, though, for here he lay in his own grave with his father's blood poring down his throat and the faint memory of a man coming out of nowhere and thrusting a knife into his side right in front of the church where he and his family had just attended services lingering in the back of his awareness. Wait...Here he lay in his own grave?! With his father's blood poring down his throat?! His father?! Alive and here? And the blood... Mihnea had been drinking it down like a suckling babe without even noticing! Blood! Somehow the bit involving the assassin didn't matter as much, at least not right then.

Stay thirsty for chapter 2 as we can't keep you waiting for long. Until then, though,check us out on youtube. Why you ask? Well, you get to see some spooky Dracula toy reviews, including the action figure we chose to represent Mihnea himself, a review of the famous vampire book that came out even before Stoker's Dracula and some awesomely spooky products in general that we own and have reviewed for your entertainment, including the large unisex vampire bat ring we can completely picture Mihnea sporting. Plus we have fangtastic giveaways!

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	2. Chapter 2

Mihnea Cel Rau, Son of Dracula

By Ciaran and Coal Corby

Chapter 2: Creature of the night

In this chapter, Mihnea Tepes, historical first born son of Vlad Tepes and his first wife, continues to adjust to his vampirism...once he realizes that's what's going on, that is. LOL.

"You've had enough...or rather I have," Vlad said drawing his wrist away from Mihnea's mouth.

Mihnea was surprised by his own growl of protest and before he even realized it, he found himself reaching for his father's arm. Vlad stepped back away from Mihnea's open grave, though.

"We'll find you some more sustenance as soon as we've had a little chat. There are always plenty of people who need killing. Turkish bastards or those who are cowed by them," Vlad said, tone smooth and hard all at once with his hatred of their country's enemy.

Mihnea sat up slowly, blinking and running a had over his face.

"What just happened," he asked.

Then in response to the incredulous look on his father's face he added,"I suppose I'm asking why it just happened. The...you know, me waking in a grave bit and the part where I was just drinking your blood as if it was completely necessary."

Vlad's expression was disappointed.

"You are telling me you've forgotten all the old stories of the night walkers...the blood drinkers? The immortal beings who own the night? You're telling me you've forgotten all the stories of vampires," he demanded.

"No...I've not forgotten the stories...I suppose I just wasn't thinking about them...in relation to myself...so...is that it?"

Vlad nodded.

"Indeed so," he confirmed.

"That's what we are telling people? That we have become vampires? Creatures of the night?"

Mihnea grinned, suddenly liking that idea quite a lot. It was taking things up rather nicely when it came to the fear tactics his father had always ruthlessly made use of...and himself after.

"Let them think we can live off their blood! I love it!"

"That's good because it's true," Vlad said.

Mihnea blinked slowly as his mind struggled to take that in. It didn't appear that his father was joking. And because he was a smart and cunning man, Mihnea's shock and denial began to slowly wear off as his mind began to put together the facts...his father...He'd believed Vlad to be dead. And...hadn't he just been murdered too?

He shook his head, struggling to clear it.

"Could it really be true?"

No sooner had the somewhat meaningless question left his lips than Mihnea's mind began to recall the odd dreams he'd been experiencing over the past few weeks in which his father came to him, gave him something to drink, and talked to him of things he could never recall upon waking. These dreams had occurred perhaps once a week for the past 3 weeks. Mihnea woke each time feeling the loss of his father afresh yet at the same time an odd comfort that the old man was still around and caring about what happened to his son.

"You came to me in my sleep," Mihnea asked.

"You weren't supposed to remember that," Vlad said. "I feared they would betray you soon and wanted to prime you for the transition. If I hadn't fed you my blood you would have simply died rather than becoming what you are now."

Stay tuned for chapter 3, coming soon. Until then check out our delightfully spooky youtube channel, JekyllHydeClub, where many items of a vampiric nature are featured.


	3. Chapter 3

Mihnea Cel Rau, Son of Dracula

Chapter 3: Rising from the grave

Excuse Mihnea, dear readers, if he doesn't appear overly deep for he is a sharp minded cunning man, as tough and ruthless as his father, though historically not given nearly enough time to exert his will. If he seems a bit shallow at the moment, keep in mind that waking from the...well supposed dead is a bit of a shock to the mind!

Mihnea nearly asked his father why. Why he'd brought him over into this...night life he supposed it was. Blood life? Whatever. He'd sort it all out for himself later. His mind could only handle so much of his at a time. It had to digest...to process...

He believed he understood why Vlad had done this to him, though. The man had to be lonely. And Mihnea had always been his favorite, and the last remaining trace of Mihnea's own mother, Vlad's first wife Ilona. He had told Mihnea more than once during his youth that Ilona was his first and only love. That she and none other held the true keys to his heart. So no Vlad wouldn't be able to allow the last vestige of Ilona to die. Mihnea still remembered Vlad telling him as a very young boy that he saw his mother in his face. Everyone else always said how much he looked like Vlad, but while VLad may agree, he never failed to comment that Mihnea had Ilona's softness around the eyes and more angular face.

"So what now," Mihnea asked as he stood up in his grave.

Vlad stepped closer, his glinting in the moonlight as they peered down at his son.

"Now you are to grab onto the edge of that hole and swing yourself up and out. It will be easy for your are far stronger than you can currently imagine. It is as if you are as light as air...or perhaps just the things around you are," he mused, gaze going briefly considering before he shrugged.

"It takes a little getting used to, but you will like it. There are other things that you must learn...that I must teach you, but first you must drink more in order to build your strength. It won't take long for us to find a traitor or 2 for you to fill yourself with. The owe you and now you can take from freely the ultimate price."

Vlad chuckled, pleased, and Mihnea found himself laughing along. Talk about revenge! This was absolutely the best sort. His enemies would die and he would grow stronger from it all at the same time. He swung himself by his hands up and out of the grave with the effortless ease his father had promised. His smile grew as he stepped up beside Vlad.

"I think I'm going to like this," he told his father, then embarrassed the elder Teepees with a warm hug.

"Thank you, Papa. I am pleased to be reunited with you again...and we thank the god that it isn't in death after all as I'd always expected."

"Yes about that." Vlad said, only seeming uncomfortable for a brief second.

"We are unable to touch crosses without being painfully burned so I am in doubt that this gift of life is actually from the god."

Mihnea blinked, unsure of how to take that. Were they not to continue fighting the Turks for the god

"Who turned you into a night walker," he asked, suddenly very curious and wondering why he'd not asked before. Of course he'd had plenty of other things to wonder about and surely many more to come very very soon, but still...

Vlad shrugged.

"I do not know. I woke in my grave with the taste of blood on my lips desiring more. I learned much of what I know through my own discoveries and the rest from an old vampire whom I encountered while attempting to hunt in the forest. Know that animal blood will hold you over but it is not nearly as filling or as satisfying as the blood of humans. This is because animal blood is too unlike our own," Vlad explained.

He sighed. "There is much to tell you and much to show you but first you must feed, and then we shall seek shelter from the sunrise under the castle. There we can talk until the sun forces us into the strange paralyzing trance which passes for sleep for vampires."

He nearly felt like a child again with the fleeting memory of his mother insisting that he drink his milk to grow into a big strong boy. But this life was far from anything he'd experienced in childhood other than the fact of everything being new. Though as a child he didn't think he realized that everything was new as much as he did now. Children didn't exactly think that way. Satisfied to simply go along for the moment rather than asking questions, Mihnea followed his father into the night.

They only went a few steps, however, before Vlad stopped and bent to lift something into his arms. It was a dead body.

"Pick those up," Vlad ordered, gesturing it his foot to 2 wooden boxes, one stacked atop the next. They were on the ground near where the dead body had been, just in front of the church where Mihnea had been buried. Mihnea did so without asking why for he supposed he'd discover the answer soon enough.

Turning Vlad headed back to Mihnea's grave.

"In case they open it, we need someone inside," he explained.

"I left mine empty just for fun, but we can't direct people to the obvious too blatantly, even for a good joke," his father said, dumping the body inside.

"Now we close it up. But first fill both of those boxes full of dirt from your grave for it protects you during the day and gives you a more pleasant restful time until the sun sets."

Mihnea did as instructed and soon they'd closed up the grave and were leaving the church yard, each with a box of earth in his arms. Mihnea had been distracted for a little, but now that they were on the move he felt his hunger growing. It was good that his father felt it important for him to drink first and foremost, and Mihnea was eager for his first taste of bloody revenge!

Don't forget to check out our youtube video reviews(JekyllHydeClub) of neat vampire items, anything from action figures to coffin jewelry and we've started spooking it up for Christmas too so there are all sorts of neat ideas for those who want to have a spooky little Christmas too! Ideas of which Vlad and Mihnea would definitely approve. Until our next installment my friends, stay thirsty!


	4. Chapter 4

Mihnea Cel Rau, Dracula's son, chapter 4.

By Twa Corbies

In this chapter we continue to see Mihnea's early stages of vampirism at his father's side.

"So you knew I would die." Was he asking or telling? Mihnea didn't know the answer to that himself.

"All mortal things die eventually," Vlad said, then before Mihnea could make an angry protest that his father knew what he'd meant, Vlad continued.

"It was logical that your eventually death would be sooner than you or I liked. The times were never something I was able to improve for you, Boy. Not for anyone."

For a moment Vlad was silent, staring off into the night and Mihnea allowed him to do so, remaining silent as well while his mind worked to process everything.

"I tried," he said at last, and his father nodded without looking away from his stare into the distance.

"Yes, you did, and you did well. Just...there are too many bastards among the Turks and of our own people. So many of them are foolishly ready to battle endlessly for a power and a throne that they would be unable to hold were they to obtain it."

Vlad's voice rose in anger before it fell silent again and it was Mihnea's turn to nod as he sighed in resignation to the truth in his father's words. "It is too difficult to protect them when they value an inner power struggle more than they value freedom from blasphemous Turkish tyranny."

"There are no truer words, Son," Vlad told him, voice nearly hushed yet still heavy with gravity and deep regret.

"This is why we must remove ourselves from all such entanglements. Though I regret to say it, this fight is no longer ours."

"But why," Mihnea found himself bursting out. "We have all this power now. We're surely very difficult to kill, and we could use our strength and speed to rain hell down on all those bastards, Turks and traitorous boyars alike! Together, you and I could...we could...Hey that stuff about vampires being faster and stronger is true, is it not?"

Vlad's response held a mild tone of amusement that Mihnea found annoying under the circumstances. This was a serious matter, after all, and not one that should amuse his father. "Yes," Vlad said. "Those qualities are indeed correctly attributed to vampires as are those weaknesses of fire and sunlight. Beheading can cause a problem as well if a temporary one," he added nearly as an afterthought.

If you enjoyed this, stay tune for more and if you enjoy vampire figures and jewelry/accessories, check out our youtube channel, jekyllhydeclub for we find all sorts of neat stuff at very affordable prices and review them for those of like dark minds.


	5. Chapter 5

Over Mihnea Cel Rau

Dracula's son

Chapter 5.

In this chapter Mihnea continues to learn of wonders beyond his wildest imaginings, but he is adjusting well. He is Dracula's son, after all.

the next few weeks, Mihnea lived in many ways as if for the first time. Everything was new. Basic ways of living were new. The things he wanted, needed to eat...to drink? To sustain himself with were different. Simple but different. Blood. Only one thing to worry about giving his body daily. Just blood. No 4 food groups for him. Simple yet foreign, though his body's cravings didn't find it foreign at all which made it easy to do whatever needed doing to ensure he had enough blood.

His father warned him more than once not to kill too frequently in the same place or to kill too obviously. That meant one couldn't simply tear someone's throat out, drain them of all life blood and go about one's merry way for that would cause people to notice. When people noticed often they wondered. Mihnea had learned in life that most people weren't smart enough to put 2 and 2 together or to see more than they expected to, but there were always those few that could pose a serious danger if one wasn't careful. If he hadn't remembered that due to his own murder, his father certainly didn't hesitate to remind him or to even harp on the matter until Mihnea silently swore he was getting a headache even though vampires didn't.

Another thing that should be simple, but now posed a thing he had to relearn was the act of sleeping. Where he did it as well as how he did it were vastly different now. He had to sleep in the dark, preferably in a coffin or at least with a bit of grave dirt on his person. It kept his rest easier and made his mind more peaceful. It, in essence, kept him more comfortable in the way a nice mattress served a mortal. How he slept was also different. He did not dream but was aware of those happenings in his near vicinity. He was not awake in that the day paralyzed him completely and forced upon him a rest.

Even his interactions with people were different. He had to be ever mindful when dealing with them and many in his father's social circle weren't people at all. His father inspired much awe among vampires. It seemed that somehow he was even stronger than those far older than he. Mihnea did not fully inherit this unusual trait, but other vampires respected him more than most none the less for who his father was as well as his own mortal accomplishments. It seemed killing a lot of people when he ruled Transilvania won him a vast amount of points among the vampires they encountered or had dealings with for whatever reason.

When killing people, he learned to make it appear as if they had died in another way other than through extreme blood loss. This was, for the most part, easier than he'd expected. To make a Turkish prince appear to have been thrown from a horse ended one of his enemies, and in turn having it appear that an disliked Boyar was poisoned ended another. So on and so forth, did many of his enemies meet their just end while becoming his dinner. It appeared that revenge did taste grand after all.

To be continued.

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